wired.com — All good things come to an end eventually -- even your college days of unlimited, high-bandwidth internet access, all-you-can-eat cafeteria food and cushy, part-time library jobs. But what to do about it? Considering that much of what you learn now will be obsolete by the time you graduate, it's tough to know what courses will best prepare you for
Aug 9, 2007 View in Crawl 4
manicalldayAug 10, 2007
I'm just happy about the lawyer sections. I'm starting my own firm when I graduate. I just got to figure out a way to make sure that I get my loot up front.
yatoobinAug 10, 2007
Given the current state of the economy and the government's attitude towards its citizens, how about burger flipper, Walmart greeter, and panhandler?
bromacAug 10, 2007
Actually make your client money so that they can pay you. Instead of dragging out the case and then billing your broke client, who's suing because, well, he's broke.
msgyrdAug 10, 2007
As a comp sci major, I feel I've recieved almost no career training at all. Looking at job postings, everything wants 3+ years specialization in a commercial app most professors have never heard of, much less taught to any students. I know lots of theory and math, which will be lifelong skills, but aren't buzzwords you can put on the resume to fill some stupid demands of an applicant, regardless of your capablities. Companies want cookie cutter applicants they don't have to train at all, it seems.
siekosunfireAug 10, 2007
Even better is when employers want something outrageous, such as 15 years of experience with .Net despite it only being out since 2002. A good majority of the time, companies hire non-technical people to do applicant screening, along with preliminary interviewing, when those individuals are not suited to judge the capabilities of all the applicants. These are the individuals that filter out your resume if you don't have the relevant buzzwords, since they aren't required to have a deep insight. Companies are now finding that it's important to place people with relevant experience in the screening/interviewing positions and let the HR employees stay busy with other tasks.A good majority of the time, however, experience and education, but mainly your connections, are really the keys to a lot of positions. Take advantage of internships while you're still in school, check to see if a professor is working on research that might interest you (a publication or two as an undergrad, even as a co-author, can really help), work on additional, large projects to really show your understanding of a particular area, and definitely keep in touch with your colleagues and professors. A lot of times, companies want to see that you know how to do more than what's the baseline requirement; however the biggest factor is the fact that you were referred to them by someone that they hold in high regard or from someone internal to the company.